Green Sunday: The Built Environment -- Density: the pro's and con's

THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT -- Density: the pro's and con's

"Smart" Growth is relative. Let's make sure the "smart" is not the same smarting that provided us with the installation of "smart" meters. "Green-washing" is a reality. How do we go beyond the catch-phrases of corporations and their minions in the main stream media and create a better environment than is currently planned for us humans?

In our lives, we are forced to be very busy. We often aren't able to spend the necessary time to understand our relationship with the built environment around us. This is unfortunate because the built environment has a large impact on our social & psychological well-being. Our presenter will provide a critique via a visual presentation of existing and planned transit-oriented developments (TOD's). Starting at a macro-level and progressing down to the micro, the following are some issues to be included: regionalism, TOD's, Complete Streets, democracy, corporatism, public financing, scale, "workforce" housing, "education" vs. technical indoctrination, etc.

The Green Sunday programs are not only intended to educate but, to provoke interaction and lead to activism. This is intended to be an interactive presentation designed to entice citizens to become active in the implementation of local & regional plans designed to increase density. This particular presentation is provided in response to recent discussions revolving around the TOD's intended to be built around existing BART stations.

A (previous) architect, polymath and Gen X'er, Brian Geiser is widely read and widely resided, having been raised in the rural mid-west and spent his adult life in many urban environs including: Columbus, OH; Annapolis, MD; Baltimore, MD; Philadelphia, PA; Boston, MA; Chicago, IL; San Francisco, CA; and most recently in Oakland, CA. He has exchanged services-for-wages in many drafting businesses ("architecture" firms) during those residencies and has gained a world-of-knowledge by viewing what NOT to do.

SPONSOR: Green Sundays are a series of free programs / discussions sponsored by the Green Party of Alameda County. They are held on the 2nd Sunday of each month.